ΑΡΧΙΚΗ / SOME ENGLISH TEXTS / THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CORRECT CONFESSION OF FAITH
The Importance of the Correct Confession of Faith
The pocket calendar of 2011 is dedicated to our Orthodox Confession of Faith, which teaches us what and how we must believe in order to be saved, what the truth is about the one God, and what the Orthodox doctrines are, those revealed and established by the Holy Spirit. It is a public and solemn pledge to the Triune God, that we stand with Him, that we consent to join ranks in the holiness of His Will, that we are willing to become His faithful servants, domestics, children and heirs.
The publication of the Orthodox Confession of Faith is deemed necessary in order that every member of the Church of Christ our God may know of which Kingdom they are citizens, in which Royal House they dwell, what borders the eternal King has set to the courtyards of His House, of what value is the Royal Treasure which has been entrusted into their hands for safekeeping by the King-without-beginning, of what honor is the Royal Seal of their salvation.
The formulation of the Confession of Faith varies in length and scope, according to the needs of the occasion for defending the faith against heresy. However, it remains the same with respect to the truth of its content, how binding it is for the one confessing it, and the abundance of Grace granted by He who is confessed, thereby adopting the person as His child. Regardless of its length, the Confession of Faith is always brief in comparison to the size, greater than heaven itself, of the Truth that is confessed. It always remains a summary in relation to the Divine light of the uncreated Unity which it brings about through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, with God the Father. It always constitutes a synoptic recapitulation of the life experience of the dwelling of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the faithful.
The reader benefits from and owes it to himself to study, to become fully cognizant of and to experience the content of the Confession of the Orthodox Faith, which is not just a matter of the lips, a rolling of words in the mouth, but the work of a heart entrusted to God and the concomitant planting of God’s trust in the Christian.
For the aforementioned reasons, the Orthodox Confession of Faith is committed to the following pages and a synoptic reference is made to the foremost Confessions which have been published at various points in time during the two thousand year long history of the Church after the Incarnation of Christ. All of them demarcate the spiritual limits of the Church, the borders of the Vineyard that has been planted by the Triune God and not man, the Peace of the Kingdom without beginning to which we belong by the Grace of God.